Seven Month Status Report

My job: I have transitioned to a new law firm. It's about 40 people, and I work in the Actions Against the Police department. 
I'm still settling in, but I am enjoying the change and I'm curious to see how I'll feel in a few months time. Our department deals with police complaints, improper abuse of power, wrongful arrest, etc. The department also takes on various human rights cases.

We LOVE the neighborhood where we live. We've fully set into routines and commutes. I'm going to reformer pilates a few times a week at a nearby studio and its really fun. I'm finally gaining abdominal strength so that's a first in my whole life! Brian was playing soccer 2-3 times a week on various teams or pick up with friends. He is nursing a heel injury and taking it easy these days. We'd appreciate your prayers for a solid answer on the diagnosis. We also really love this wine shop that opened up across the street. We've been to two excellent tastings there. One was a wine and chocolate pairing for Valentine's Day! It was so much fun.
Thanks to the wonderful visitors we've had, we have had a special opportunity to explore sights in London we had not yet seen. When the Hubbell ladies were here, we went to the British Museum where we observed giant chunks of Parthenon on display and gawked at mummies galore, and the Rosetta Stone. We also saw a play together, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. We LOVED having them here for a full week- our first visitors really made it feel like we've made this place a home. 
My Dad was here for a few days and we explored new restaurants. We visited the Churchill war rooms, which was quite the history lesson. Brian's Dad visited for nearly a week while checking in on his London office. With him, we went to the British Library which boasts an impressive collection of original Shakespeare manuscripts, Florence Nightingales notebooks, original Beatles' lyrics, the Magna Carta ! it was so cool. We also journeyed outside the city to Greenwich, where the British Naval Academy has this gorgeous park and lovely observatory showing the division of the timezones for the world, hence the name, Greenwich Mean Time. 
My sorority sister, Erin, was in town for a few days and we had dinner at a pub that is housed in the spot on the Thames River where the Mayflower left for the Netherlands (and eventually, onto America). We've been SO blessed by these visitors and hope to have many more! It's easy to get lonely here and to miss our good friends. Brian's brothers have just planned a trip in June and one of his groomsmen will be here for his birthday! 
On the subject of friends, we are still couple-shopping. We've made some good friends here, but its hard not to miss everyone back home. Meanwhile, the time difference and chaos has made it challenging to stay in touch. So hang with us, and please know that we hate how difficult it can be to get in touch. But at the same time, technology has never made staying in touch easier, so please reach out!
I guess the last important update is about the Roswell house. I had the great pleasure of coming home for about two weeks while I was in between jobs. I worked a lot on the house, but the real hero of the project has been Barbara. It's remarkable how much work she has gotten done and how much she has helped us. We are so grateful. The house has officially been listed and we are hoping for positive feedback and a loving new buyer soon! 

Brian's job: there's not much to report here. He likes his job a lot and is enjoying all experiences associated with the big law firm life. We live very close to his office, so these last months he has been able to walk home for lunch which gives Grey a great deal of joy. 

We've just returned from ICELAND and it was the most amazing trip. I'll post about that next! 

That pretty much covers a good chunk of it. 

This is 1 Dec

I've been avoiding posting, so here you have a few very stream of consciousness updates on our life in London.

1. We still have no shower. It has now been 40 days that we have not had access to our en suite. We are super lucky that we have a second bathroom (which has a tub only). However, it has effectively now been 7 weeks out of the 8 weeks we have lived in this flat that we have been shower-less. In the last 7 weeks, I've taken three showers, which were in Rome. I recognize that we are very lucky overall and that this whole ordeal is a real first world problem, but it's also really stressful, obnoxious, and driving me crazy.

2. My ugly feelings toward plumbers has reached an all-time unfathomed high.

3. I am still working! In fact, on Friday, I worked an 11 hour day and won my first court case. Well, the barrister "won" it, but I did a lot of work with my colleagues and I was present at the hearing, so it felt very satisfying. Its good to feel like a real lawyer.

4. Our obsession with the International Street food fair on Sundays has plateaued. We still love it, but it has been kicked from being the highlight of the week.

5. We managed to find Americans to share Thanksgiving with us. On Thursday, we hit up Pepperdine's group and had a lovely Thanksgiving meal with our fellow law students. It was really nice. On Saturday, I baked three pies and a sweet potato casserole. The store only had pink and white marshmallows. We made it work. The pies turned out excellent. We took the sweets to a feast with our new British/American friends that we met in September. They've turned out to be lovely friends, and they introduced us to even more really lovely people. It was a great day.

6. My two new favorite phrases that will forever be incorporated into my verbiage:

"cant be bothered" = cannot bring myself to do that

 Example, "I cannot be bothered to do the dishes right now." 

"muppet" = a person who is worthless  

Example, "Those plumbers are a buncha muppets!" 

7. Brian and I shared the one year of our engagement last Friday. We were in Rome and it was a lovely day. Brian had never been to Italy, so we had a great time. I met a colleague from working in Madrid and spent wonderful quality time with her. On Saturday, we were filled with sentimental thoughts about where we were one year ago and how much has happened since then. I look back on that weekend with the fondest of memories with our closest friends and family. I was filled with warmth all weekend, still reeling from the event even if it was one year ago.

8. Grey doesn't bark like a Brit. Not yet, at least. But she has learned to pee on concrete. And she actually likes the cobble stone. Great success!

9. I think that Starbucks holiday cup "scandal" was one of the stupidest things in the 21st century.

10.  Brian and I will be in Cincinnati and Chicago for about one week around Christmas. I will be eat Chic-Fil-A at least ten times, Brian will demand Skyline at least fifteen times, and I will spend over two hours frolicking the aisles of Target.